Last week, we looked at the process of sanctification as we learn to choose righteousness and to sin less. We looked at learning to surrender our lives, our minds, and our choices to the Holy Spirit and being led by the Holy Spirit. Paul uses Romans 7:1-6, to teach about our new relationship in Jesus.
We are like a woman whose husband is dead; she is no longer bound by the bonds and vows of marriage, and if she marries another, she is not an adulterer. You and I were ‘married to sin,’ we were bound to it, and now we are saved; sin is dead to us, and we are alive in Jesus. We are free to be loyal to righteousness and no longer to sin. Sadly, many of us go back to sin; we find that sin is easy to do, and in contrast, righteousness is hard to choose at times.
Paul, a former Pharisee, one who lived out the Law and tried to earn God’s favor by works, is familiar with the flesh and with the power of the flesh.
Verses 7-12—To truly live, I had to die. Once Paul understood sin and the power that it had in his life, that death was the only fruit of sin, and that in crying out to Jesus, he found grace and life. God graciously reached out to show grace (read Acts 9). But also read John 12:24, death to self was the way to live and to have real life. It is God that puts a new heart into those of us that are saved (Ezekiel 36:26). Dying to self is very hard, and it is a lifelong journey that we all need to endure if we want to grow in this new life we have in Jesus. Dying to self, for many of us, requires minute-by-minute sacrifices we need to make. But as we are making these right choices, there is a powerful flesh calling out to us to do our own thing and to go our own way.
Verses 13-20—Paul lays out for us the constant battle that he fought every day. This is important for us to do because we need to see that Paul, the legendary apostle, the writer of about half the New Testament, struggled with his flesh just like we struggle with ours. The Holy Spirit sheds light on our lives and into the battles that we have, and we can get the help we need to sin less. There is a will to do what is right, and Paul says here that he wants to do right, but there is another law in there with him when he wants to obey the Lord. Paul understands that it is his flesh, his dying body with its lusts, that betrays him when he wants to do the right thing. Paul then comes to the conclusion that there is no goodness in him. In his flesh, he is evil, and he refers to himself as the ‘chief of sinners’ when talking to Timothy.
For a Pharisee to come to the conclusion that he was sinful and evil is a big step. Often, we do not truly understand the depth of our own sinfulness until we have been saved. Then, as the Holy Spirit reveals the dark recesses of our minds and our hearts, we can truly begin to understand how sinful we truly are. For many of us, it is eye-opening, and it should drive us to cry out to Jesus more; it should drive us to a deeper appreciation of the gracious salvation that Jesus has bought for us.
Verses 21-23—There are two laws: one to do good and one to do sin. There is a constant battle between the two. And when I choose to do evil, the Holy Spirit is there calling me out to repentance and obedience. I pray that you have this battle; it is one of the most important signs in our lives that we are saved.
Verses 24-25—What is to come of us? Paul uses a picture of a cruel torture that ancient rulers used to subject men to. They would tie a dead man, a corpse, to a living man, and as the corpse decayed eventually, the living man would rot and die. Of course, in the meantime, there is the stench of death that is with this living man all the time until he dies as well. But, in our case, we are a saved man on the inside tied in the flesh that is dying. The sin is the stench of our death, and thanks be to God, once the flesh dies, our inner man will stay alive. We do not die like the man in real life. The death of the flesh finally frees us from sin and death. Once our flesh dies, we are sinless for the first time, and we are free.
Paul cries out in verse 25 that our only hope is in Jesus. Were it not that we have Jesus to hold us, to save us, and to be the one who has redeemed us, we would have no hope at all. But in Jesus, we have hope that these battles, these spiritual fights, and these troubles of the spirit versus the flesh are all worth it, and the end will be worth the journey.
Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario